Manchester United and Manchester City will face each other in the Premier League this weekend.
Former Liverpool and Nottingham Forest striker Stan Collymore has written in The Mirror that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be the key player in the Manchester derby this weekend.
Manchester United will take on Manchester City at Old Trafford in the Premier League on Saturday afternoon.
It is the biggest game of the season in the English top flight so far. United and City are the two main contenders for the Premier League title this campaign.
A number of top players will be on show in the Manchester derby, one of them being Ibrahimovic.
The Swedish striker has been in superb form for the Red Devils since joining them in the summer transfer window.
The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain striker has scored three goals and created four chances in three Premier League matches for United so far this season.
Former Aston Villa striker Collymore believes that Ibrahimovic will be key in the Manchester derby.
“While Kevin de Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney all have the ability to do something special on any given day, Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the man who holds the key to this clash,” Collymore wrote in The Mirror.
“He’s just one of those players — like a Lionel Messi, a Cristiano Ronaldo or an Eric Cantona — who you know is tailor-made for such an occasion.”
Former Arsenal star Martin Keown has also identified Ibrahimovic as the player who could decide the outcome of the game between United and City on Saturday afternoon.
“There’s been so much talk of Pep vs Jose that Ibrahimovic feels like a subplot,” Keown wrote in The Daily Mail. “But he has a special relationship with Mourinho and famously fell out with Guardiola at Barcelona, so his performance in this derby could be decisive.”
Both United and City have won their three Premier League matches this season.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
